Blind Date
by Fearrig
Summary: After a terrible day at work Judy Hopps opted to go for a blind date. She didn't know what to expect, but what she got was far more than what she'd hoped. Do note that this is an alternate-universe timeline where Nick and Judy haven't met before.


**This is just going to be a quick one-shot that I wrote about an interesting and semi-humorous encounter between the two leads of the movie.**

 **While I don't really think a prep is necessary, I will answer a few questions I know will be asked. In this one-shot Judy has been in the city for three months without being anything but a meter maid. There have been no missing mammals, and as far as we know the plot of the movie either will not happen or hasn't happened yet.**

 **I think that's all that is needed, so without further ado, let's get to it.**

* * *

In the city of Zootopia there were many types of mammals, and though they differed by species, they also differed by their role. Certain species were expected to live in certain climates, the city being sectioned off and made to accommodate them, however if these mammals happened to have certain jobs then the expectations of those mammals would change. A savannah mammal who specialized in construction in harsh conditions would be expected to work in the permafrost of Tundratown. A rainforest mammal who might be a florist would be expected to work somewhere where their own flowers would be considered exotic, even if it took them to someplace alien to their general nature, like the underground nocturnal district.

This didn't mean that all roles were equally accepted, and they could be even less so depending on the species of the mammal. Such was the case with a certain rabbit who now waited outside a fairly fancy looking restaurant that had a sign which made it perfectly clear you would not be able to enter without a reservation.

This bunny was wearing a black evening dress, carrying a black purse, had freshly groomed fur and to a casual observer was either a greeter for the restaurant, or was waiting for a date. This wasn't entirely wrong, a date was what she'd originally planned, but that had been fifteen minutes ago and now she was beginning to wonder if her date would ever show up. It didn't help that in her wait she'd seen many other mammals who'd briefly stopped to wait with her before their own escorts arrived and they were inside, the one exception being a male red fox who'd been lazily staring at his phone. He too seemed to be waiting for his date as he wore what looked to be a fancy tuxedo, which was at odds with the lazy way in which he rested against a nearby wall, though she tried not to stare for too long.

It also didn't help that some mammals actually did assume she was a greeter for the place, though looking at her seemingly perpetual smile, formal attire and perfect posture one is was easy to see how they'd make the mistake. She'd considered adopting a more relaxed posture like the formally dressed fox, but she opted not to, she was waiting for somebody and if they arrived she wanted to make a good impression.

A different mammal might have been discouraged by the wait, but not Judy Hopps. The bunny had a terrible time in this city so far in her three months of working here and at this point being stood up was something she not only prepared for, it was something she'd expected, especially with the general details of the site she'd been using to get this blind date.

* * *

Judy checked her phone again. She'd been checking it every five minutes, more for something to do rather than because she needed to or had lost track of time. She'd give this mystery buck another fifteen minutes to arrive before giving up, and past that she would be done.

Judy was not anything anyone expected a rabbit to be. Most rabbits were farmers, some were florists, some were nurses and some were caretakers, but Judy was a cop. This earned her equal parts pity and scorn from her colleagues, as well as derision from nearly everyone else. Had she been a cop back in her home farm town of Bunnyburrow it's likely nobody would have been very surprised, but it would have been far more accepted by the rest of the 99% of the population that were also rabbits. She'd still have been the first rabbit cop, but at least she'd be treated with some dignity, or so she liked to think.

'At least I might have been given actual police work.' She thought to herself as her mind flashed back to that morning.

* * *

Judy waited patiently on her seat for the chief to arrive, standing on the rhino-sized seat so that she could peer over the table of the briefing room while her colleagues hooted and hollered around her. Their attitude had nothing to do with her, and the few occasions she'd tried to be a part of any of the early morning cheers she'd been met with snorts and ignored from then on out. Nobody paid her any mind in her regular seat, but at least none of them actively mocked her to her face, though she knew that her small size compared to the other mammals was a joke passed around throughout the precinct.

There was more than one reason there hadn't been a rabbit cop before now. Part of it was the fact that most bunnies were timid by nature, but another part was the size requirements and these had been only recently changed. Originally you'd have been denied if you were smaller than a wolf, however with the mayor's new mammal inclusion initiative smaller mammals like her stood a chance to get in to workplaces that would usually be denied them. It didn't mean they had it any easier, quite the contrary as they were still expected to pass all of the normal requirements for their station, and this was a fact that was seemingly lost on the rabbit's current boss.

Chief Bogo was a hardass, and Judy wondered if it was a normal attitude for a water buffalo or not, but he'd made it clear that he thought she was only here as part of a political ploy. Judy understood the attitude even if she couldn't agree with it, the smaller the mammal was there more there was of them, and there was no shortage of mammals who thought that mayor Lionheart was only trying to get the votes of the smaller mammals so that he'd stay in office by passing his bill. Worse yet, Bogo had made it clear that he'd seen the results of her time at the academy, and that he simply didn't care that she was valedictorian.

For the past three months she'd been assigned nothing but parking duty. It had been crushing the first couple of times that it had happened, not least of which because parking duty was something that the police outsourced to corporations so that the 'real cops' could focus on their work, but after that she'd settled into a routine. She'd fill her quota of 100 tickets as soon as possible, and then remove the vest and cruise around the city looking to help mammals in any way she could. As of yet she hadn't found any sympathizers from her fellow cops, but she liked to think she was making progress little by little, at the very least she could tell they no longer expected her to just quit and go home.

She was drawn out of her thoughts when the door suddenly slammed open and Bogo walked into the room, a rousing chant coming from the larger animals in the room while the wolves howled.

"Shut it!" Bogo called out with a glare, everyone in the room silencing as he gave the room a once-over. "I've got five items on the docket, first I'm going to address a number of concerns that were expressed to me and answer some questions." His gaze then turned to her. "Hopps, I'll assume you have yet to check your email?"

"I've checked it sir!" She replied. The only email she'd received this morning was to come into his office after morning roll-call was finished, but she hadn't seen any reason why that meant she should skip the assignments, even though hers were always a given.

The cape buffalo gave a snort. "I was going to do this in private, but since you decided to ignore my polite request, I'll just have to make this public." The chief spoke with a level of scorn she'd rarely heard from him. "Hopps, you're not to come in this room again, until further notice I'm assigning you parking duty. When you come to the station I expect to see wearing your vest, get in your car, and leave."

Judy blinked as she suddenly felt cold. "Sir, how long are you going to keep me on parking duty? I've gra-" She was cut off as the chief slammed a fist down on the podium he currently stood behind.

"I'm well aware of what you think you can do Hopps." The chief practically growled out. "However at my precinct I expect only the best from my recruits, not some rabbit from outside the city who only made the cut and was assigned to my precinct thanks to our 'wonderful' mayor." He almost spat out the last two words. "As for how long I intend to keep you there, it's rather simple, for the rest of your 'career' at the ZPD."

That caused her to blink again as her body seemed to go into shock. The words weren't hitting home and her mind refused to register them. "Sir, the reason I joined the ZPD was to help people, and I'm not doing that if all I do is hand out tickets!" She cried out.

"Then you can help them by resigning." Stated the buffalo as if it was a fact. "And Hopps, If you ever talk to me like that again you'll find yourself fired for insubordination." His words were accompanied by a harsh glare before it swept around the room. "That should answer any past and future questions anyone has about Hopps' involvement here, or are there more that I've missed?"

There was no reaction from the assembled mammals and Bogo nodded. "Hopps, you're dismissed." He stated as he looked back to her. It took a few seconds for her to start moving as the situation finally struck home, hopping off the oversized chair and walking towards the exit she felt completely numb, not paying any attention to the surrounding officers as they finally gave her the sympathizing looks she'd been hoping to see for the past three months.

* * *

Judy put her phone away as she continued to wait. She didn't know what to do about her current job, if she wasn't looking forward to writing tickets until the retirement then she knew she'd find no help from her family. The first time they'd called her she'd forgotten to remove the meter maid vest, and they'd made it quite clear that they were happy with her current role. It was safe, easy, and paid decently, all things that a bunny family could look for in a job for their children.

Safety wasn't something Judy found herself craving. She wasn't a daredevil but her goal of helping mammals as a cop meant that safety was going to be a luxury denied to her, and from what she was finding the safer this job was, the less she was helping the various communities. She'd made no friends in her position as a meter maid, even though she was merely fulfilling the duties of her office she'd been spat on, had food thrown in her face, had her little car kicked by larger mammals when she wasn't looking and even had the side of it scratched by others.

Most of the offenders had been caught by her and brought in by others. After her first couple of days chief Bogo made it clear he didn't want to see her assist in police work, so she'd merely radio it in that she'd apprehended the offenders and passed them off to whoever showed up. Her rabbit-sized car made carrying most mammals impossible and the other mammals who showed up were more than happy to take the credit of catching the offenders themselves. Credit was something she could do without, so long as she was assisting the city in some way she was convinced that she could be happy.

If there was one thing she'd wished she could change about it however it would be her family. They were never supportive of her choice to become a cop, before she'd applied to the academy they'd tried to talk her out of it several times by getting her to settle for a less risky line of work and claiming that it was the next best thing so she when they'd been happy to see the meter maid vest it wasn't exactly a surprise. Still, it would have been nice if they could have bothered to hide their glee when she told them about the chief's announcement.

* * *

Judy lay on her bed glumly as she stared at her phone. The tiny device wasn't doing much to help her mood, but then the screen changed to display the picture of her parents and the request for a video chat. She shrugged and accepted it, seeing both of them pop into view before long.

"Hey bun! How- what's wrong?" Asked her mother as her smile fell, alongside the smile that her father had.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." She replied without much emotion.

Her mother didn't seem to appreciate that. "You're not fine, your ears are drooping." Stated the doe as she pointed.

"It's... just work." She answered. Both her parents seemed to perk up at that and she reasoned there was no harm in telling them. "Today chief Bogo told me that he was going to keep me on parking duty, indefinitely."

Wide smiles beamed across their faces at that, her father being the first to speak: "That's wonderful news Jude! Did you hear that Bon?" He was nearly hopping on the spot and she could tell her mother wasn't far behind.

"That's great!" Her mother agreed.

"Yeah, it really is." Judy answered sarcastically.

Her parents seemed to take note of her mood, though neither of them seemed to agree with it. "Don't worry bun, this just means that you're going to have a safe, stable job!" Her mother began before pausing.

Her father seemed to take that as a cue to step in: "Yep, remember how we had that talk about settling? Well this is it, you can't always get what you want and sometimes you have to settle for the next best thing!" He cheerfully stated and her mother eagerly nodded, though Judy didn't find it in her to agree that parking duty was anywhere close to being a cop in terms of helping people. Surely the next best thing would have been a nurse or doctor or surgeon, somebody that could legitimately help others without worry of their boss chewing them out for it.

"Thanks guys." She returned without any sincerity. Their reactions were about what she'd expect them to be, but it didn't mean that it wasn't hurting her inside right now, maybe telling them was a mistake after all.

"We love you bun!" Called out her mother. "Have a good sleep and a great day tomorrow Jude!" Called out her father before her parents ended the connection.

Now that they were gone the screen returned to the website she'd been browsing, specifically a dating site called 'seeker'. If she told her parents about it they'd likely be elated that she was finally considering using a dating site, but she wanted to keep that part as a secret for now. It was only on a lark that she was looking at the site, if her career in the city wasn't going anywhere good, and her family was going to do nothing to help, then maybe she could try her hand at romance. Meeting somebody might make staying in the city more bearable, and she was determined not to go home, that would essentially be admitting defeat and she was anything but a quitter.

After mulling it over she finally made a profile, entering in her name, birth-date, species, gender and her sexuality but she left the occupation blank. If she entered it in then there was a good chance the buck she met would be just as unsupportive of her job as her parents, and right now she could use a good date or two before dropping what it was that she did and possibly ruining things for the both of them. At the very least they might be more open to the idea after they got to know her. She also left the profile picture blank, after all this was a site that offered blind dates and she was in the mood for a little surprise, and then tried the site's matchmaker service. To her surprise it matched her with somebody almost immediately, somebody who was listed as being online, and soon they were talking and planning for the date. It seemed that this mystery mammal had nothing else to do that night and she could use the outing.

For the date she'd picked out a dress that was quite nice and fit her well, though she'd never bought it. Bunny families out in the countryside sometimes numbered in the hundreds, as was the case with hers, and this was a hand-me-down from one of her sisters after she'd found her own mate. It had come with the interest of helping Judy also find somebody special, and after Judy had let slip during a call to her family that she had no interest in dating until she was established at the ZPD, and as such didn't even buy any clothes for the occasion.

She was certainly established there now, though not in the way that she'd wanted. So with the date planned she'd grabbed a purse, also donated by the same sister and for the same reason, and headed out to the restaurant they'd agreed to meet at, a fine dining establishment called 'Memories'.

* * *

She was brought out of her musings as the fox across from her cleared his throat. Now that they'd both been waiting a while she was a little impressed with his tenacity. They stood on either sides of the entrance of the diner, though that was more her decision than his. They'd arrived at almost the same time but she intentionally moved away as he walked up. Judy hadn't had the best history with foxes, as the scars on her cheek could attest to, and she'd rather it didn't get any worse.

After half an hour of waiting Judy checked her phone again, specifically Seeker this time to see if she had a message from her date. All she knew about her supposed date was their name, Nicholas Wilde, and like her his profile picture was blank, as was his occupation. Judy had thought it was odd that the picture, name and job were the only things that the site was willing to show her, but maybe that was a part of the charm of going on a blind date.

By now it was obvious that this was a farce. He'd told her that he knew a guy and that they'd be able to get into the diner, and though she was willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, it was becoming more and more unlikely that he was just running late. She wondered how often he did this to others, and what number she was in what had to be a decently sized list of victims.

Maybe he was watching her now, but if he was she was going to make sure he was disappointed. After her day at work and her call to her family, being stood up by somebody she didn't even know was nothing by comparison. She'd also made sure to mentally prepare herself after all it was a country motto that bad things came in threes, her job, her parents, and her date all going south seemed to fit that rather nicely. She would wait maybe a few more minutes and then leave for home, probably send whoever this was a nasty message, block them, and then try again with somebody else. What she would not do is let her disappointment show in any way, shape or form.

"Waiting for somebody too?" Asked a voice too close to her ear and she jumped in spite of herself. Spinning around she saw the fox she'd been looking at had crossed the entrance and had snuck up behind her without her noticing somehow.

"Yeah, it doesn't look like he's coming though." She answered as she calmed down. The grin on the fox's face told her that he'd been expecting her to jump, and for a second she grew mad, before remembering that he'd been her at least as long as she had. Maybe he'd just done that to alleviate boredom.

"Now what kind of nice buck would stand up such a pretty doe?" He asked and she felt her ears heat up a little. The flattery was unfounded she knew, across species looks were just a curiosity, calling something attractive might as well have the same meaning and impact as calling a plant attractive. It might be appealing to look at, but it wasn't pretty in the sense the words would be used to describe mammals of the same species, or at least that's what she'd assumed.

"I don't know, I never saw his picture." She confided and he nodded.

"Blind date?" He asked and she nodded in turn. "Figures, let me give you a tip Carrots, you never use those, it almost never works out and every time I've tried it, I get stood up at the front door." He spoke with a calmness that she was surprised at, given the context of his words.

"How many times have you tried it?" She asked curiously and his grin returned.

"Only once." He answered. "How about you?"

"Once." She admitted back. At least this conversation was helping to kill time until she decided to finally go home, even if she was keeping her distance from the fox. "So you don't know anything about who you're waiting for?" She asked, more just to make conversation than it was desire to know.

"Just her name." He commented, though she waited he didn't divulge what it was.

"Same here." She answered and he gave her a shocked look.

"You know my date's name?" He asked in horror before giving a fake glare. "I knew she was two-timing me!"

Judy did nothing to prevent the smile coming to her face, after her day she could use a good laugh. "Maybe your vixen's with my buck." She casually mentioned and he snorted.

"Well I hope they have a great time together, I for one think I'm going to enjoy my time here." The fox stated as he began to move to the entrance, but just before walking inside he stopped, turned and looked at her. "Let me guess, your buck was your ticket in?" His tone was resigned and she nodded. She shook her feet to encourage blood flow as she prepared to leave, only to be stopped by the fox at the door, calling out to her: "If you want, I'll get you in."

She paused and gave it thought. While she'd rather keep her distance from vulpines, this might be her only chance to enter into the diner and see an establishment that was proudly displayed on a few brochures that illustrated the high points of the city. "Sure!" She stated with cheer that she hoped hid her nervousness as she spun on the spot and walked on over to the fox.

The two proudly entered, the moose at a greeting desk inside the door nodded at the fox and motioned to the entrance of the diner proper with a wave of his hand and a nod, the fox smiling as he simply walked in and suddenly Judy was greeted with a very pretty sight.

Just like on the brochures the inside of the diner didn't have much seating compared to other places, but what it little it had it more than made up for in appearance. A veritable garden cut through the center of the room while a miniature waterfall flowed from one wall, into a stream through the garden and ending in a miniature pond at the far side. A little bridge (though little being comparative in this case considering it was wider than an elephant) went over both the stream and garden, allowing access from one side to the other.

The fox quickly seated them both on the far side of the room, a nice little table that was still in view of the servers despite the larger tables around it. Judy marveled at the comfort the appropriately sized chair gave before an ocelot server appeared to her side.

"My name is Vanessa, I'll be your server for tonight, do either of you have any preference for your food or drinks?" The young ocelot asked and the vulpine nodded.

"We'll take two glasses of blueberry wine, and we'll keep the bottle." He stated and Judy raised an eyebrow. The ocelot left then and Judy assumed she'd be bringing back some menus when she returned.

"Long day?" Judy asked the vulpine and he shook his head.

"No, but I can tell yours was." He commented and this time her brow furrowed in confusion. "You looked like the kind of mammal who'd had such a bad day they were determined to make the night a good one, only to get stood up but let me guess, you weren't going to let that get to you because if it did you'd leave the city to go back home to the carrot-choked podunk you'd originally left, that right?" The fox spoke with a smugness that set her teeth on edge, but the accuracy of his words caught her off-guard.

"Close, but Podunk is in Kennedy and I come from Bunnyburrow." She commented, proud that he got at least one fact wrong.

His snicker wasn't what she expected and she frowned when it happened. "Sorry, it's just that I didn't think Podunk was real." He snickered again as he looked back at her. "So, Bunnyburrow, I'm guessing you come from a proud line of carrot farmers?" The smugness was gone from his voice this time, now it seemed as if he was genuinely interested but she stayed on guard, this could be a trick.

"My family are carrot farmers, but I'm not." She stated proudly, seeing him lean forward as she spoke. A little emboldened by his attention, she smiled and continued: "I decided to become a police officer."

Now that seemed to pique his interest. The fox sat leaned in once she finished, before his smug smile came back. "Not going so well is it?" He asked dryly.

Judy sighed and shook her head. "No, three months and all I've been given is parking duty, today the chief's told me that parking duty is likely going to be the only thing I'll ever do." She admitted as her ears fell.

The fox sighed before leaning back in his chair. "Well sorry to tell you Carrots, but despite the bumper stickers you can't be whatever you want in this city, you can only be what you are. I'm a fox, you're a bunny, and nothing we do will ever change that." He spoke with resignation that she might have pitied if she wasn't irked at the nickname.

"Don't call me Carrots." She stated with a frown.

"Well it's either Carrots, or you get to tell me your real name and where's the mystery in that?" The fox asked and her frown deepened.

"Would you like it if I called you 'Slick'?" She asked with an annoyed tone.

"Absolutely, one hundred percent." He stated back proudly, placing a hand over his chest as if it was some badge of honour. Her angry frown was replaced by a confused one, but the smug vulpine wasn't finished: "The trick is that you can't let stuff like this get to you. All you need to have a happy life in this city is to accept what you are and let everything else be water under the bridge."

Judy frowned as she remembered the 'settling' talk she'd had with her parents a long while ago, but that frown was soon replaced with a smug smile of her own. "If that's all you need then why were you on a dating site?" She asked and suddenly his smug expression faltered. It seemed he hadn't expected that.

"All right, you got me, maybe it's not everything." He admitted with a shrug. "Sometimes even foxes get lonely... what's it like to be a lone rabbit living in the city?" He asked with sudden and renewed interest.

"What makes you think I'm living here alone?" She asked back and he raised a brow.

"Just a guess, if you really were here with others then I doubt they'd have let you wait outside for that long, or are rabbits not like that?" She knew what he was asking. There were some mammals that could be more well protective of their families than others, Koala's being a particularly infamous example, and to an extent rabbits were like that. If they only had a handful of kits most rabbits would be helicopter parents, though when families numbered as high as hers they weren't likely to watch all of their kits to make sure their date had shown up. Had they been like that and had they come with her to the front of the diner, they'd have waited with her for her date, and it was rather obvious that there was nobody else with her.

Judy thought about it, and decided give a noncommittal answer. He was right in that it wasn't easy and she did feel lonely very easily, and how she managed to combat that was a secret she'd prefer to keep. "It's hard." She conceded. "We're very social but living in a crowded apartment helps with that a little." That was only part of the truth, the rest of it he didn't need to know.

"I'd imagine." He commented back before looking thoughtful. "I didn't know there were rabbit-focused apartments in the city." He trailed off a little bit at the end there and Judy felt the need to speak up.

"There aren't, I don't think there's enough rabbits in the city for them to have rabbit-focused ones." She mused. In her time here the rabbit sightings had been few and far between, a far cry from her hometown.

"That's what I thought, so where do you live beautiful?" He asked and she almost told him, might have had the flattery caught her off-guard and made her a little suspicious.

"Downtown." She stated, the fox nodded and seemed to be satisfied in that answer.

"Must be nice, if I lived in a crowded apartment I think I'd hate it." The fox stated and she raised a brow. "Solitary mammal Carrots, I didn't have the luxury of having three dozen siblings."

"Three-hundred-eleven." She stated and he cocked his head at her in confusion.

"Sorry?" He asked as if he was dumbfounded by the answer.

"I have three-hundred and eleven siblings." She stated and now she was proud again as he seemed to stare with wide eyes.

Suddenly her attention was drawn to a bottle being set down on the table, Vanessa having returned with the wine and two glasses. "Here you are, your food will be up shortly." She stated happily before leaving.

"Not a moment too soon." The fox joked as he picked up the wine and poured them each a glass. "Three-hundred eleven. How do you even manage to feed that many?"

"That's why we're farmers." She answered as she picked up the glass, examined it, and then took a sip. The taste was exemplary, the taste of the alcohol almost non-existent compared to the other flavours and she was soon downing the entire thing.

"I see, must make Christmas confusing." The fox joked before downing his own glass. It wasn't long before he refilled both glasses with the liquor. "How does your mother even do it?" He continued, voice thick with disbelief.

"Well... they're not all my brothers and sisters." She began, seeing the fox raise a brow at that. "They're all blood related though, we're separated into sibling groups based on our age groups. If somebody is significantly older than you then they're an aunt or an uncle, only your direct parents are your mom and dad, but once you become a senior you're automatically a grandma or grandpa."

The fox seemed to be spellbound as she explained, and he let out a nervous chuckle when she finished. "That's quite the system." He stated.

"That's just familial relations, I haven't even told you about how roles on the farm are all assigned." She said and his head cocked again. "You probably don't want to hear that though." She continued, trying to change the subject to something a little more interesting for the both of them.

"I might, maybe you can tell me about it while we eat?" He asked, looking over at something past her. Judy turned to see the Ocelot returning with two plates, one of which had something that was large and brown coloured with some greens on the side, while the second plate came with what seemed to be some sort of cooked salad.

"But we haven't ordered yet." She commented and turned back to find the fox with a wide smile again.

"That's because this is the type of restaurant where your food is cooked and served based on species, don't worry Carrots, I think you'll like it." As he finished the ocelot set the food in front of them and Judy realized what was on the fox's plate, it was meat.

Meat wasn't something she'd ever seen served in Bunnyburrow, or even in Zootopia for that matter. Most places didn't carry meat, it made sense considering that only 10% of the population ate it, so any place that carried it needed to have an owner who was fine with having it in stock, chefs who could prepare and cook it, servers who could serve it, customers who could eat it, and lastly an audience that wouldn't abandon the diner for something that was usually regarded as being visually disturbing to most mammals.

"Don't worry Carrots, you can avert your sensitive bunny eyes." The fox joked as Vanessa set down cutlery with a smile, and then she was gone. Despite the joke Judy remained staring at the fox and his plate, the other mammal looking at dish as if he were a mammal dying of thirst and the food was a glass of water.

"I'll be fine." She tossed back, determined to get through this. If she ever became a real cop she'd no doubt see much worse, so she couldn't let this bother her and the fox seemed to take this as permission to dig into his meal. To her credit, while her stomach turned at the sight of the fox cutting up and eating the brown meat, she did manage to prevent herself from wincing, regardless of the show he made while he ate.

"That was so good." He sighed out when the last strip was going. He looked up at her, and then suddenly his look became one of worry. "You should eat up before it gets cold." He spoke quickly, pointing at her plate.

Before she could dig in a thought occurred to her. "How much did this cost?" She asked with worry, looking at the fox across the table.

"Not enough to worry about, and I'm paying anyway." The fox smoothly answered with his smug smile.

"You don't have to do that!" She sputtered out. This was awfully far to go for a stranger.

He shrugged before answering. "It's all prepaid, I had this great plan in mind you know." He began before looking back at the ceiling, picking up and sipping his wine glass before speaking: "Treat a vixen to a nice dinner, go for an evening stroll through the park, and finish off with a sky tram ride to the deepest parts of the rainforest district at sunset."

"Would that sky tram ride end at a certain fox's den?" She asked slyly and he shot back a smirk of his own.

"Probably not on a first date." He admitted with a smile she soon shared. Her disgust of the meat now completely forgotten, Judy had no issue digging into her own food.

* * *

It would be an hour before they left the diner. Judy would tell the fox all about her family and what it was like growing up on a farm while he'd occasionally add in his own running commentary on events, or mention what it was like to grow up in the city. From his description she could tell he hadn't had an easy time growing up, though whenever she pressed him for details he'd evade the question. By the time they'd left most of the wine was gone from their bottle, both plates had been cleared off and Judy was feeling a nice buzz that dismantled any objections she'd had about staying close to the vulpine.

It almost made her sad when they stepped out and she could see the fox eyeing a cab. The night at the diner had been exactly what she'd needed, but once the fox left she'd likely never see him again... maybe it didn't have to end so soon.

"Come on slick!" She yelled, grabbing the fox's arm and pulling him along as she began to run down the sidewalk.

"Woah Carrots! Where're we going?!" He called as he tried to keep up the pace beside her. For a second she wondered if he was surprised at her strength, the muscles being a combination of farm work and academy training, but even so their size difference would have made it easy for him to pull away if he really wanted to.

Instead of answering him she just giggled a little bit at the thought of making a fox chase after her, eventually ending at the nearest park and she turned to see the fox panting and giving her a confused look. "You said you wanted a walk through the park right? Well here we are!" She announced.

"Well firstly I said a 'walk'," He began lecturing, though his smile soon came back, "Secondly I'm pretty sure I said I'd be doing that with a vixen."

"Yeah, well we don't always get what we want and sometimes we have to settle for the second best thing." She replied, her thoughts briefly on her parents before her attention was attracted by the now laughing fox in front of her.

"I'd think you can do better than a fox for your 'second best' Carrots." The fox stated as he finally straightened up, seeming to get his second wind.

"My date didn't think so." She commented and he snickered again. Maybe it was the wine making him laugh abit more often but she didn't care. "Come on!" She demanded as she happily pulled him into the park and to her delight, he happily followed her.

* * *

By the time they'd finished in the park, night had fallen and she was more than happy to see that her impromptu date seemed to be having as much fun as she was. They'd discussed various aspects of their city along the walk and commented on the unfairness of living as small animals in a city where one-size-fits-all was considered to be deer at the minimum, and Judy had taken the opportunity to blow off some steam about her usual job of being a meter-maid.

The fox for his part was both a good listener and a good speaker. He'd known what to say to make her laugh when she needed it and he knew just how to cheer her up about the depressing nature of her current job. But eventually they'd come to the other end of the massive park and her ears fell back as she realized their evening together was at an end. She turned to face him and tried not to let tears fill her eyes as he seemed to be giving her an appraising look in return.

"Well slick, I had a great time tonight and..." She trailed off as she tried to think of something, anything to prolong the night.

"And you're scare of heights?" The fox asked, much to her confusion.

"No, why?" She returned, confused about the statement.

"Because I've got two sky tram tickets and you're acting as if you don't want to come along." He flashed a teasing smile as he pulled the two tickets out of his pockets.

For her part Judy felt overwhelming relief along with a great deal of happiness, so she showed it in the main way that a bunny would, by jumping up and giving him a hug, locking her legs around his stomach as he staggered back and wheezed at the impact. "Thank you so much!" She exclaimed.

"No problem." He wheezed out. It took her a few seconds to realize what the issue was and she quickly untangled from him and backed away.

"Sorry! Sorry!" She apologized as she rushed in to check and make sure he wasn't hurt that badly.

"It's all right, I just need to watch out for emotional bunnies." He returned with a smile, before taking her hand and this time being the one to lead them to their next destination.

* * *

The tram car swayed to and fro as Judy stared enraptured by the sight before her. At night the rain forest looked completely different from how it did during the day, the water softly falling from above seemed to capture the bright lights from all of the artificial trees around her while the mists gave the place an otherworldly appearance, as even the mist itself seemed to glow, the dim blue lights almost tricking her mind into making her think they were in an actual forest full of ancient trees.

Suddenly she felt an arm on her shoulder, claws slightly digging in as she was pulled to the side of the fox next to her. She eagerly accepted the attention, cuddling into his side as she nuzzled the side of his chest a little, and feeling him nuzzle the top of her head.

"I wish tonight would never end." She said happily as she tried to press more into his side.

"Me too Carrots." He answered, his grip on her tightening slightly.

The rest of the tram ride passed mostly in silence. Sometime through the ride she'd stopped paying attention to the ride and instead stared up at the face of the fox who had given her a wonderful evening so far, only to find him staring back at her.

Later she'd wonder what made her do it, but at the time she had no issues grabbing the fox and yanking him down into a passionate kiss, one he was soon returning as she forgot all about the rest of the ride.

* * *

When they'd left the sky tram, having untangled themselves from each other before they reached the station she found her ears drooping once more at the thought of leaving, but she'd have to. There was nothing else that she could bring up to stay with him and soon they were staring at each other glumly.

"Well, this evening's been great Slick, but..." She trailed off as she tried to think of anything to prolong the moment. "Thanks, for everything." She finished, smiling up sadly at the fox.

"And thank you too Carrots..." He trailed off, almost looking like he was going to continue, but she interrupted before then.

"For what?" She asked curiously. So far he'd been the one treating her to everything tonight.

"For not treating me like a shifty, scamming fox." He replied and She felt her eyes begin to water at the thought. She'd never been so happy before to be without her fox repellent, and right then and there she decided never to carry it with her ever again.

Just then the fox's ears twitched and she saw him perk up a little. "You live downtown right?" The fox asked and she nodded. "Well I live just past here, if you want you could stay at my place for a-" He was cut off as she gave him another bunny hug, though this time his wheeze was cut off by a kiss. Partway through it she remembered to loosen her legs a little and eventually she felt his hands sneak under her rear, supporting her as he broke the kiss and then they were moving. While they walked Judy was happy enough to lay her head down on his chest and enjoy the moment.

The fox seemed to know where to go and Judy was content to keep on holding onto him. Before long she heard the jingle of a key, and then they were inside, the door quickly being shut and locked behind them.

Judy wasn't too interested in the surroundings of the place the fox had brought her into, at least not until he turned the light on and she quickly glanced around. What she did see was far less than what she'd expected given the evening she'd just had and how much money the fox had no doubt spent tonight. The place looked old, rickety, the walls were made out of various wooden boards without any drywall atop them and the door opened directly almost directly into a living room, with only a floor-mat and a coat rack on the wall to denote the entrance.

The living room wasn't much better, there was an older coffee table set in front of a worn couch, though the T.V. attached to the wall opposite that looked brand new, which certainly seemed odd given everything else. She didn't have time to absorb any other details though, as soon the fox was carrying her past it and into what was obviously a bedroom, using the switch at the next doorway to shut off the living room light.

For a bit she was in complete darkness, the bedroom not even having any windows, but then they'd crossed the floor and a lamp turned on. Like the rooms before the walls seemed as if they'd been built using whatever material was on hand, or what was the cheapest. Unlike the living room however the furniture was much better. The bed inside seemed almost new, being neatly made with a bedside table next to it carrying the lamp that was currently lighting the room. Like the living room there was a tv along one of the walls, and there was also a very large dresser that was closed and with a number of photos atop it, mostly other foxes that were no doubt either members of this one's' family or good friends.

When the fox sat down on the bed Judy was sure where this was going. She wasn't exactly a stranger to sex, while she'd had it before, as was natural to help deal with her bunny urges... and also because she was curious, she normally liked to think that she had high standards, and right now this fox was meeting all of them. She'd later realize there was a significant difference between foxes and bunnies concerning the meaning of inviting another mammal into your home after a date. This fox had just been polite, whereas for rabbits the offer was almost always made as an offer to sleep together.

The fox for his part didn't do much to dissuade that notion however, not at first anyway. It was only at this point, when she was trying to pull off his clothes underneath while wriggling out of her own evening wear that he'd spoken up, his hands moving away from her rear.

"Carrots... we shouldn't-" He was cut off as she pulled him back into the kiss and used her arms to being his hands to her back, pressing them against the zipper located there. The next time he objected she'd reached down to the front of his pants and rubbed it against his slowly growing bulge, and the third time he'd objected was when he spun around, setting her down on the bed as he tried to pull away, but she silenced that by grabbing his tie and yanking him down atop her.

There were no objections past that and soon he was exploring her body with the same enthusiasm as she was exploring his, and their magical night continued. Despite the size differences, they both... fit. Both worked well enough that they spent an unforgettable night on the bed their own reservations about other species completely fell apart.

That's not to say their worries weren't tested however, as when Judy felt something sharp prick into her, she looked to see the fox with his teeth in her shoulder. They were not deep enough to draw blood, but more than deep enough to make themselves known. At that moment she realized that if he wanted to, he could simply sink his teeth into her neck, bite her jugular, and she would be powerless to stop it.

Fear rose for a second, but then she saw his eyes, eyes that were full of need, and full of joy. She remembered the thoughts from outside, remembered his heartfelt thanks, and instead of flinching or pulling away she just grabbed the fur on the back of his neck and scratched with her own blunt claws.

Her actions seemed to encourage him further, and soon she felt his own claws running over her own form, hard enough to make themselves known and make her shiver and shudder at the unexpected thrill, but not hard enough to cut her. His bite did not remain on the same spot either, instead he lifted his head up, licked where he bit, and the continued to nip along both her shoulders and the side of her neck.

Eventually however even this night had to come to an end, and hers did when they were both exhausted and she was still pinned under him, both mammals ready for sleep. She could still feel him giving light nips to the top of her head and ears but she didn't mind, being more content to snuggle up to the fox on the bed and slowly drift away as she felt one of his larger hands pet the top of her head.

Right before she fell asleep completely she thought back to the Seeker site, and was glad her date hadn't showed up. Whoever this 'Nicholas Wilde' was, there was no way he was better than who she'd gone out with tonight.

* * *

 **Bit of an irony in the ending there (for those who are unsure for whatever reason, yes the fox is Nick), and of course their mystery isn't likely to last beyond the first morning. Like with my previous story I do have plans to make a sequel to this one, however for now this is just a fun little one-shot that I decided to do and if I wanted to, I could leave it at that. Like the sequel to my other story, it will not be posted until it is fully written so that I don't leave people hanging for who knows how long for additional chapters.**

 **If for some reason you wanted a more lewd version of the ending bit, it can be found on AO3. Like many other people on this site I'm not likely to include such scenes in the regular story even if they're written with them originally, and AO3 has much more lenient rules on what can and can't be included.**


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